Dream #555 (August 13, 2025) Dock Wedding and Nick Kroll Jungle Race

 A pair of mini dreams.

    In my first dream, which is very fuzzy, I was attending a wedding with my brothers (Matt and Mike). The wedding was being held on a dock that looked out onto a beautiful lake surrounded by fall trees with yellow, orange and red leaves. I had forgotten to bring something to the wedding (fittingly I don't remember what), so I was wandering about the wedding venue and the dock looking for it. I remember a some point a small yacht pulled up to the dock with a man dressed like the pope who was supposed to conduct the wedding.

And another.

    I dreamt that I was in a jungle getting ready to race Nick Kroll on foot for some large amount of prize money. He's doing well for himself (and I think he comes from money too) so I'm not sure why he was participating or why it was one-on-one. We were standing on a dirt patch in front of a steep and rocky incline surrounded by thick greenery. Nick quickly said "ready, set, go!" to start the race off. I realized we were both not wearing shoes, so I put on and tied up my rainbow shoes, which gave him a head start (though I assumed it would pay off later to not be barefoot in the jungle). Being a nimble fellow, I scrambled and climbed and ran and quickly caught up to Nick. This was a long distance race so we both were trying not to burn too much energy, though that was difficult in the jungle terrain

    Soon we began to encounter really difficult spots to pass through, so we started helping each other. As we did so, we began talking and decided to just work on finish the race simultaneously so that we could both win. It sounded way more fun than competing so that's what we did. We helped each other climb vines, get over boulders, and tunnel through overgrown areas. As we were nearing the end, we spotted Donald Trump in a row boat with a young woman (she was rowing). Apparently he had funded this race and was there to watch us compete. When Nick and I realized this, we decided to sabotage the whole thing and commandeer Trump's row boat. We both hopped in and started making it rock bath and forth, and the old man started yelling at us (though the young woman was amused). Then neck dropped his shorts and stuck his bare butt in Trump's face, then leaned all the way over to say "helllloooo" to him between his legs.

Then I awoke.

Dream #554 (August 12, 2025) Tatooine Concert

 A little dream.

    I dreamt I was prepping to film a concert in the middle of the desert in Tatooine (from Star Wars). I had to prep and set up 3 camera angles to point at the stage. In front of the stage was the giant toothy pit from Return of the Jedi, but nobody was really phased by it.  The director had long and flowing white hair and sat in his directors chair the entire time, shouting directions at me that I could barely hear as he looked at my camera feeds in his monitor.

    The sun was very harsh, so I and my assistant Guillermo (from What We Do in the Shadows) set up this gigantic 50' x 50' silk diffusion to soften the light hitting the stage. It worked really well, except the wide shot could now see the bottom of the diffusion frame and I needed to change out the lenses. Guillermo forgot to bring my lenses with him, so he said he could teleport to my studio to get them (this was a known power he had in my dream). When he tried, he glitched a bit but couldn't do it. He was so distraught because he really liked having that power (who wouldn't?). I was frustrated but I said I could just move the camera closer, though the sand was pretty shifty the closer I got to the stage. The director kept yelling things at us that we couldn't really hear.

    Finally the band that was going to perform came to do a soundcheck. They had different costumes, and one of the band members was David Lynch. They started playing some avant-garde rock.

Then I awoke.

Dream #553 (August 11, 2025) Inflatable Ark

Little sleep but still a dream.

    I was (and this seems to be common in my dreams even still) working as a camp programmer. This particular camp was a weird combination of forested areas and closed down shopping centers (with vines growing up the walls and everything). I was taking a group of kids on a hike. We circled around a geological formation similar to a small Devil's tower, but covered in moss, then crossed a very long and very high rope bride. One of the campers had a bow and shot the rope bridge with an arrow. leaving a huge gash in the rope. I said allowed, "This is going to come in to play later I'm sure" (it never did). Then we walked through an old mall with flickering fluorescent lights and vines growing along the walls. Right as we entered the mall it started to rain. I looked at a pocket radar I had and saw that heavy rains were expected. I let the camp counselors take the kids to their next destination and I called the director.

    She told me that severe flooding was coming and that we needed to gather all the campers and board them onto an ark. I was trying not to panic, but there were a lot of kids that needed to be gathered and not a lot of time. I instructed all the counselors I could find and we started lining up campers and sending them toward the ark once each group was accounted for.  The floors of the mall were starting to flood, and some areas were nearly impassable. There was a smaller kid struggling to wade through the water so I carried him for a bit. Nobody was panicking too severely and the evacuation was going smoothly.  I waited in the mall until every counselor and camper made it out safely, then followed them across the rope bridge and down to a nearby pier.

    The sky was navy blue, and amber lanterns lined the pier that led to a giant blue inflatable ark. All the kids boarded and I did a quick check to make sure nobody was left behind. However, before I could board, a huge wave came and crashed into the pier, causing it to collapse. I ran and leapt onto the ark just in time as the pier disappeared into the water (which was dark as oil). The kids were safely in the hold of the vessel, but I was sliding around the top of the ark. Because it was inflatable, it was difficult for me to get solid footing. I nearly fell off the edge several times and the waves and rain harassed me. I finally saw a way down to the hold.

Then I awoke.

Dream #552 (August 10, 2025) Prairie House Strangers

 I slept poorly but I had a dream.

    I went with Cat to a house in the middle of an empty prairie to visit friends of her who lived there for the first time (they only exist within this dream). Jason, his wife Stacy, and Ethen, all in their 30s. It was an older house with lots of sticky looking wallpaper, yellowed floor tile, and old wooden furniture (some of which was cool looking). We got in late in the evening so we prepped for bed. Ethen was really close with Cat and they went off and chatted in another room while I prepped a couple of air mattresses. Jason and Stacy talked to me about something that I don't remember, then gave me general instructions about where to find the bathroom, where they keep their towels, etc.  I ended up going to bed.

    I awoke (within the dream) to find Jason lying on top of me (I was sleeping on my stomach). Having only just met him that made me very uncomfortable. I asked him if he would get off of me but he didn't. Then I saw Ethen sitting in a nearby chair laughing at the situation, making fun of me for being sensitive. Cat was laughing as well from the other side of the room where her air mattress had been moved to. Stacy must've still been asleep.

    Finally I gently forced Jason off of me and asked if I could get some more sleep since I had only slept a couple hours, but Ethen was anxious for everyone to get up so we could play his game. Eventually I was left alone in the room as everyone else was getting ready for this game. I took my time getting around because I was so exhausted and unmotivated. I didn't much care for the vibe of these people. I eventually made my way downstairs. I helped myself to a bagel in the kitchen, then went to the backyard.

    There I found a gigantic encaged field with complicated markings and lines all about. There were clear plastic walls surrounding all sides of the field, and it was shaped like an 'l.' There were about a dozen people all dressed in athletic gear playing this game, including everyone in the dream so far, some random strangers, and Questlove. In this game, the players would chuck marbles at the walls and other players would try to catch them before they hit the ground. It seemed very dangerous and too simple to be fun. Questlove seemed to be having a great time though, so I thought I'd give it a try. For some reason there were rubber bands lying about everywhere. Questlove chucked a big marble near me and I dove on the ground to catch it. Someone else threw a whole handful of marbles at me while I was lying on the ground, which seemed like not a part of the game. I looked up and it had been Ethan.

Then I awoke.

Dream #551 (August 9, 2025) Video Gaming Stranger and Camping

My therapist wants to talk dreams and this is the best way for me to remember them. I guess Blogspot still exists.

    I don't remember the circumstances that led me to this stranger's bedroom but there I was. He was in his late 20s or early 30s, short beard, glasses, brown hair (though I'm weirdly not great at remembering hair color in real life so this could be inaccurate) and a few inches shorter than me. I was supposed to be retrieving something from him but I don't remember what. He was busy playing a vintage video game on a small CRT television in the corner of his room (though it was vintage and first generation Nintendo-looking, he had a headset and was talking at the game the whole time). I tried to interact with him but he was too busy, so I studied his room for a bit. He had completed lego sets displayed on his shelves, a colorful Star Wars comforter made nicely on his bed (similar to one I had when I was a kid), several other gaming systems set up on various dressers, and some photos of him and his partner (in the dream I knew of him through her but I don't recognize her in real life).

    I decided to go find a bathroom and wandered through this gigantic house to find it. There was a massive living room with vaulted ceilings and a style that you might encounter in a rich person's retirement home. A grandfather clock, flowery patterned couches and chairs, carpeting, beige walls, etc. I went to the bathroom (had a similar style and made me think this guy lived with his parents maybe [no shame in that]).  When I returned to his room he had finished playing. To make small talk I asked him about one of his gaming counsels.  It was some version of a Switch, but instead of just the side controllers coming off the screen, the screen split in half down the middle and could be taken apart. I asked the guy how it works out of curiosity, and he insisted on showing me and playing the game with me. I talked about how I probably needed to be leaving soon, but then he started talking about how I was going to go help him shop for groceries.

    Then I awoke (or so I thought). I found myself on a large gravel parking space in a campground. I was talking to my friend Andrew DeSelm about the dream as if it were real life, telling him I got to play the new Switch 2 (in this portion of the dream I started realized that the gaming experience I had was a dream as I was telling it to Andrew, so I wasn't straight up lying to him at first, but kind of was by the end of telling it?). Andrew, my brother Mike, and I were all working with a bunch of teenagers for a sort of camp. Mike and my responsibilities were mainly to film and photograph the campers, though I also had to run some of the programming (similar to a job I used to have). We were camping in North Carolina near Grandfather Mountain and there were a ton of campers and very little staff.  Andrew went off to prep food for the campers while Mike and I started taking photos. Some other staff member had borrowed my camera so I looked at the photos they had taken. They were all terribly out of focus (I have cinema prime lenses which don't autofocus and they probably didn't realize that).  I took some photos of campers setting up their tents, then I went and helped set up some giant tents with other staff members.  I also for some reason was supposed to make a short film with everybody so I was trying to plot out different scenes around the campsite.  My friend and drummer Mal was there as well, setting up for a show her band (The Matriarch) was going to play later that night. 

    Soon it was time to lead all the campers on a mountain hike. In my dream I remembered a hike from some other dream I had who knows when and decided to take everyone there. I directed the 15-passenger-van and bus drivers where to take the students. As I was about to leave, I realized that Mal had disappeared. I saw a text saying she was taken into custody for protesting something, which was concerning. I sent Mike to go be with the campers while I went to the tent where Mal was being held by some sort of law enforcement. I found that they had some other prisoners being held there, but they told me Mal had to be relocated but wouldn't tell me where.

    Not knowing what to do, I went back to the campsite to find the director (Carrie B. who used to be my director at the camp I worked at). She was busy prepping a scene in the large tent for the short film I was supposed to work on.

Then I awoke.